Tom had been surrounded by Elites and had run out of shotgun ammo. Just as he was about to reload, one knocked him down and suddenly they were all around him. He whacked one right in it's lower knees which caused it to lose it's balance. He kicked it in the stomach to which it gave a roar of pain before toppling over. He used the distraction to roll away. Unfortunately he rolled into a canyon and fell. He hit the ground and winced in pain. He tried to stand up, but the pain was to much. He worked on his leg until he could walk and then, reloaded his shotgun and putting it on his back, hobbled away.

Zeph had seen Tom rolling away and informed Douglas.
"We should do something." said Douglas.
"Agreed." Zeph replied grimly.
"You create a distraction and I'll go and look for Tom." came Douglas' reply.
"Gladly." said Zeph, cheering up.
And with that Zeph shot an Elite through the head with his Sniper Rifle. This was the signal for Douglas to slide down the hill and land a the bottom. As he landed, he did a roll and took out his Assault Rifle, and then ran past the Elites, spraying them, before jumping and landing with a thump in the canyon. Tom was nowhere to be found.

Ivan had been walking for about 10 minutes when he came across a Spirit. He tried to hide in a nearby bush but it found him. Firing its main cannon at him, it dropped off a pair of hunters. Ivan aimed his Splaser at one and fired. "Dosvedanya." he said as the shot hit the Hunter right in the back, causing its armour to fall off. Letting out a loud battle cry, Ivan switched to his Assault Rifle and ran at the Hunter. He poured bullets into the Hunter's exposed back and was rewarded with splatters of blood and roars of pain. Just as he was about to finish the thing off, its brother came out of nowhere and knocked Ivan over. He yelled out in pain as he hit the ground, dropping his weapons. Just as the Hunter was about was to finish him off, it was hit in the back by a Rocket Launcher. As it lost its armour it turned round to face its assailant. It was Andy.

"Hey comrade." he laughed as he let off another shot. Ivan had grabbed his Splaser and shot the Hunter facing Andy in the back. The shot penetrated the worms, slicing through the middle, causing the Hunter's 'head' to blow off. The Hunter toppled over and the worms composing its body split apart and fell out of the armour, burying themselves underground. "Nice shot." said Andy, who had switched to his Grenade Launcher. Andy let off a shot, which went through the Hunter's legs, bounced off the ground, hit a rock, and buried itself in the Hunter's exposed back. The weak Hunter let out a weak roar before exploding internally."Likewise." said Ivan. Andy helped him up and handed him his Assault Rifle. "Thanks comrade." he said. "You OK?" Andy asked. "I'm fine." came the response. Ivan and Andy then walked away to find the rest of their squad.

Douglas holstered his Assault Rifle and began searching for Tom. He had been walking for a short while when he heard a noise behind him. He turned round, expecting to see Tom, but instead saw nothing. "Hello?" he said cautiously. Suddenly he was hit in the back and fell over. He grabbed his SMG and aimed at the space behind him. It was empty. Just then a few spikes hit him in the leg. He cried in pain and looked to the left and saw a shimmer of camo. Panicking he shot frantically at the shimmer. The Brute Stalker lost his camo and roared in pain. Douglas ducked and hit the Brute in the stomach. He then ripped the Spiker out of its hands and threw it aside. The Brute kicked him away and took out his Mauler and shot Douglas. Douglas flipped out his pistol and shot the Brute in the head, killing it instantly. He took the Spiker and Mauler and holstered his SMG and pistol. He could sense that more were coming.

He was right. Three more Brute Stalkers came out of the shadows. He took down one with the Spiker and then used the Mauler on the other two. He threw the Mauler and Spiker aside and ran into a nearby cave mouth. What he didn't see was the Spec-Ops Elite activate his Energy Sword. He also didn't see the Elite turning around and following him.

Douglas turned on his lighting systems and looked around. Using his VISR he could see that there were no enemies around him and so walked further into the cave. After a while he came to the second cave mouth, which was right on the edge of the cliff. Turning of his lighting systems, he walked further and looked to see what was below him. To his surprise he saw a large canyon, most probably created by a lake which was once there, in which was situated a small Covenant encampment. He judged the distance between him and the floor and, judging it to be small enough, jumped. He had misjudged the distance and, as he fell, smashed into a small incline and rolled down, landing on flat ground with a thump. As he turned round to get back up, the Spec-Ops Elite jumped at him and prepared to stab him.

Out of some rocks behind Douglas, a figure came and shot the Elite with a shotgun. As the Elite jumped backwards to retaliate, Douglas turned and saw it was Tom. Tom pumped his Shotgun and turned to shot the Elite again. He turned around just as the Elite jumped out of the shadows and knocked him over. Douglas shot at it with his pistol. It ignored him and went to kill Tom. Tom pulled out his knife and slashed its stomach. It dropped its Sword and staggered backwards, roaring and clutching at its stomach. Tom grabbed its discarded Sword, jumped to his feet, ran at it and drove the Sword right through its chest. It let out a sickening choking noise, and fell backwards, dead.

Tom pulled Douglas up and looked at his leg. He pulled out the spikes and applied some Biofoam to the wound. Douglas said his thanks and then looked upwards to where Zeph had been. He was gone.
"Zeph was right there." he said worriedly.
"Don't worry, he often wanders off." said Tom.
"Hmmm." muttered Douglas.
"Come on lets explore." he said excitedly.
They walked towards the encampment, taking out their weapons cautiously. When they arrived, it was mysteriously empty. There was a Phantom docked nearby.
"Wow, haven't seen one of those before." said Tom.
"It's one of the new dropships used by the Covenant to replace the Spirit." Douglas explained.
"It's called the Phantom."

Just as he said this he was hit in the shoulder and grunted in pain. He turned around but couldn't see anything. He looked at his shoulder. It was a needle.
"Jackal Snipers!" yelled Tom.
"Get to the Dropship!" Douglas shouted back.
Tom and Douglas began to run.
"What's the point?" Tom asked as he was hit in the back by a Focus Rifle.
"We can fly out of here and look for the rest off the squad!" Douglas explained.
"How are we gonna fly that?" Tom asked.
"I can!" Douglas said triumphantly.
"Really?" came the reply.

Just then they reached the underside of the Phantom. They went into the gravity lift and Douglas ran into the cockpit.
"Know then." he said as he started operating the controls.
"I thought you said you could fly this thing." said Tom worriedly as he saw Douglas looking confused.
"I'm just out of practice, is all." he said. "Man that turret."
"Aye aye." Tom said sarcastically as he operated one of the side turrets.
Douglas shut off the gravity lift and shut the doors leaving only Tom's turret exposed. Douglas then took off, taking out the encampment with the Phantom's main gun. Then they flew out of the canyon and set off to find their squad.